Former Nazi Convicted of Murder

From 1945-1949, Nazi soldiers were prosecuted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The trials were called The Nuremberg Trials, and being the first criminal trials in history to try individuals for these types of crime, they were foundational in setting the precedent for human rights issues and arguments.

This past week, a similar situation took place. A German court convicted John Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio autoworker who was formerly a Nazi guard at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, of the murder of nearly 30,000 people. The court sentenced him to 5 years in prison - a punishment I feel is not strong enough, despite his old age. Considering the fact that the war lasted from 1939-1945, it is conceivable that some of the prisoners at Sibobor were held in captivity longer than Demjanjuk will be serving time.

However, family members of those that were killed at Sobibor have a more positive outlook on the conviction. For example, David van Huiden is just glad that the man who took part in killing his mother, father, and sister will be punished at all. In addition, although Rudie S. Cortissos, whose mother was killed in Sobibor, acknowledges that this is just one of the many Nazis who committed atrocities during WWII, she explains that every little bit counts. She says, "He's a very small fish. But whether you are a whale or a sardine, someone who went wrong this way should be punished."

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/world/europe/13nazi.html?_r=2&ref=world

-Gracie Hollister